Does Orlando Bloom?

The answer to the question in the title of this Conversation is a Big YES – Orlando Blooms... and how!

Barely five years in Hollywood, Orlando has already won a large following the world over, thanks to his portrayal of Legolas in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) that turned him into an overnight sensation.

Orlando bloomed even bigger in his succeeding films, including Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and Kingdom of Heaven, Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown, Ned Kelly (with Heath Ledger) and Troy (with Brad Pitt and Eric Bana).

And now, Orlando reprises his role as Will Turner in Walt Disney Pictures’ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (distributed by Buena Vista International), also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp (as Capt. Jack Sparrow) and Keira Knightley (as Elizabeth Swann), the same team which is also behind Pirates Part 3 which starts principal photography next month.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the blacksmith-turned-seaman Will Turner is set to marry Elizabeth Swann, the governor’s daughter. But before they can swap "I do’s," the couple is swept away by Capt. Jack Sparrow on a heady adventure that takes them to a cannibal colony and into the watery underworld where they come face-to-face with the heartless Davy Jones (played with flourish by Bill Nighy).

Orlando came to the interview at a function room of the posh Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, dressed in denims and white collarless T-shirt, a black scarf wrapped around his neck. He’s lean, unshaven, his curly hair somewhat uncombed (which made him look even more cute), as if he overslept and, worried that he would arrive late (he didn’t) for the appointment, jumped out of bed and into his yellow Beetle (or could it be a much more expensive car that only looked like a Beetle?) and rushed to the venue.

He spoke with a distinct British accent. Orlando was born in Canterbury, England. According to his resumé, he joined the National Youth Theater in London and gained a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. After completing his scholarship, Orlando starred in his feature film debut in BBC’s Wilde, with another aspiring actor named Jude Law. And then, he was admitted to Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where, in four years, he performed in several productions.

Hollywood soon beckoned.

Sorry, folks, no questions about Orlando’s personal life were allowed, that’s why I refrain from asking him about his romance with Kate Bosworth (who plays Lois Lane to Brandon Routh’s Clark Kent/Superman in Superman Returns).

How was it working on Pirates compared to working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

"It was very different; they were two different films. They were two entirely different experiences."

And working with Johnny Depp?

"Oh, it was a fantastic experience. Johnny has such a magnetic presence that he simply tears up the screen. It was great working with him because I look up to him as a role model, a hero, as I grew up. He has guts. He makes brave choices and he does only movies that he wants to do. I admire his being a non-conformist.""

You seem to enjoy being in adventure-fantasy movies...

"...Yup!"

...Would you say that there’s an "eternal child" in you?

"Yeah. I think so! Doing the movie made me feel like I was living many dreams all at the same time, whether it was swinging from ropes, rolling in the bone cage, sliding down sails or kissing a beautiful girl. The actual work that went into, it was really difficult and it was made to look easy on camera. But it was so much fun doing it. I felt very lucky because it was a great group of people I was working with and there was a lot of thought and care that went into the whole process of making this movie."

Have you always wanted to be an actor?

"Oh yes, I have. I’ve never dreamed of being something else. But I didn’t know that being in movies feels like a roller-coaster ride. Yes, it’s fantastic and I wouldn’t exchange this life for any other."

What’s the upside of stardom?

"Well, the upside is, as I’ve said, it makes you live your dreams in many ways."

And the downside?

"There isn’t one!"

Any particular role that you’d like to play?

"Hmmmm. You know, I’d like to go back to theater."

How do you handle success and balance it with your private life?

"As best as I can. To be honest, it’s one of those things that you just have to accept and, yes, try to do the best that you can with it."

How do you usually prepare for a role, especially a very physical one like in Pirates?

"I usually go on a diet and work out a little bit. For Pirates, I trained hard to be fit and agile enough to do all those complicated action scenes so I wouldn’t get hurt."

Are you a vegetarian?

"No, I’m not."

Which scene in Pirates did you find difficult to shoot?

"Oh, yes, being inside a giant wheel rolling down the hill. It was kind of complicated. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt doing that scene. And also, the three-way sword fight which took three weeks to shoot. For an actor, it felt like, you know, ‘Am I a stuntman? Or am I an actor?’ You got that kind of feeling five minutes into the shooting."

How was that scene done, the one showing you and company inside the turning wheel?

"Oh, very complicated. They had a wheel on a blue screen on, which was attached to the back of a truck. And then they would reverse the truck and, you know, drive the truck back down the hill. We would be wired inside it and then they had it on a flat piece, with two wires along the top, so we were kind of hanging on the wires and running, one of us running forward and another one running backwards..."

Whew! It does sound complicated!

"Yeah. It would make a fun ride in an amusement park if it weren’t so uncomfortable."

I read somewhere that you yourself did some of the stunts, performing your own brand of derring-do more than 30 feet up the high masts of the Edinburg Trader. How did you do it?

"There’s one scene where I’m on the mast and I jump into the sail, slash it with a dagger and slide down. Isn’t it a real Errol Flynn stuff? It’s every boy’s dream, isn’t it?"

You sound like you did have a lot of fun doing Pirates.

"I really did feel like I was living a lot of my boyhood dreams on a movie like Pirates."

How different is your character, Will Turner, in Dead Man’s Chest from he was in Curse of the Black Pearl?

"I wanted Will to be less of the kind of earnest, upright young guy of the first movie, and this time to see his darker shades. Will’s journey throughout the second movie is his concern for his father, Bootstarp Bill, who is an important element of the first film without actually being seen. Will needs to rescue his father from the fate that he’s been destined to live on the Flying Dutchman with Davy Jones and his frightening crew. So Will’s objective is to reconnect with his father, and at the same time somehow maintain his relationship with Elizabeth. Each of the main characters in Dead Man’s Chest have their own objectives, which are to some extent in conflict with each other’s. There’s a real scene of young lovers’ tension between Will and Elizabeth."

You spent several months shooting the movie in the West Indies. Besides the "complicated" scenes, was it hard being away from home that long?

"Oh yes, being away from your family and friends for long periods of time could be difficult. But we created our own kind of family environment, so there was a great atmosphere on the set. The hours could be long and the work was definitely challenging but we all knew what we were working on, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s quality entertainment, family fun, with a great story and a plotline that everyone, young and old, can enjoy."

How do you react to being called Sexiest Man Alive (by People magazine)?

"Flattering. Yeah, very flattering."

What part of your body do you think is the sexiest?

"I have no idea."

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